Motivated by the current (2011) political climate in Wisconsin it seems reasonable to devote some time and effort to comment on issues and some of the hyperbole. So we in the public should do what we can to help focus "journalists" on delineating real facts versus spin. If you accept the spin you do not understand the policy implications.

Monday, December 26, 2016

I will be thinking about this and assemble two lists by December 31st, 2016. Why don't you do it too!

A START:

Worse Off:ACA or Obamacare is repealed, especially the provision to require participation and pay penalties for not participating (there are other features). Repeal will drive up costs for all of us; not to say it can't be improved, e.g., large scale negotiation with pharmaceutical companies to control drug prices.

Better Off: Student Loan policy is amended to allow students to secure competitive market interest rates rather than locked into higher rates that benefit banks. This would be an economic stimulus more beneficial to family formation, job creation and consumer demand. Making schools more accountable, in some manner, for a student's success, could be another approach -- a claw back.

Better Off: Medicare and Medicaid remain essentially intact or with improved benefits with "high compensation" (include stock options as income in kind) individuals being tapped to pay taxes through removing the "cap" or raising it substantially.

Worse Off: Social Security is converted to an IRA like program. This will burden people with more detail investment choices they do not understand, give a piggy-bank to Wall Street in endless fee generation, make the safety net available only to those that do not need it.

Better Off: Climate Change is put on the Trump agenda as real, not further exploitation of fossil fuels - pipelines, fracking, coal. Unfortunately it seems improbable that Climate Change will be recognized until the Polar Bears and ice caps have disappeared and catastrophic coastal flooding overwhelms President Trump.

Monday, December 5, 2016

... What he left unsaid, however, was that between the November election and January inauguration, he had quietly moved a chunk of assets into trusts for his family members, leaving more than $2 billion off of his financial disclosure report—and therefore out of the public eye. Ross revealed the existence of those assets, and the timing of the transfer, whenForbesasked why his financial disclosure form listed fewer assets than he had previously told the magazine he owned. ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~December 5, 2016 (has been revised slightly with this lead in in September)

Only behind closed doors and off-limit special groups do they say what the really think. They talk about supporting gerrymandering, vote suppression, voter intimidation, and tax breaks for themselves.

Ironic ... I wrote this before I knew about his close Putin connection ... and hidden offshore money

Wilbur Ross is now Secretary of Commerce and travels with his own porta potty, so his personal swamp is never far away.

... Recently, our nation’s financial chieftains have been feeling a little unloved. Venture capitalists are comparing the persecution of the rich to the plight ofJews at Kristallnacht, Wall Street titans are saying that they’resick of being beaten up, and this week, a billionaire investor, Wilbur Ross,proclaimedthat “the 1 percent is being picked on for politicalreasons.”

Ross’s statement seemed particularly odd, because two years ago, I met Ross at an event that might single-handedly explain why the rest of the country still hates financial tycoons – the annual black-tie induction ceremony of a secret Wall Street fraternity called Kappa BetaPhi. ...

... Paul Queally, a private-equity executive with Welsh, Carson, Anderson, &Stowe, told off-color jokes to Ted Virtue, another private-equity bigwig with MidOcean Partners. The jokes ranged from unfunny and sexist (Q: “What’s the biggest difference between Hillary Clinton and a catfish?” A: “One has whiskers and stinks, and the other is a fish”) to unfunny and homophobic (Q: “What’s the biggest difference between Barney Frank and a Fenway Frank?” A: “Barney Frank comes in different-sizebuns”). [emphasis added]

... School district budgets are controlled by the state-imposed revenue limits. Revenue limits are the reason lawmakers can increase the amount of general aid for schools yet school budgets remain essentially frozen. If the per pupil revenue limit doesn’t increase, the additional state aid goes toward reducing property taxes, plain and simple. (See graphic above.)There are good reasons why lawmakers are so fond of revenue limits. As the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance notes, they “give lawmakers near total control over school revenues, other than those from Washington.” Revenue limits also let lawmakers increase state aid while reducing property taxes at the same time, thus checking all the boxes voters want checked.To get more money into school budgets without increasing property taxes, lawmakers must either increase revenue limits and general aid at the same time or increase the per pupil categorical aid payments to school districts.Because lawmakers haven’t allowed increases in school district revenues to keep pace with inflation in recent years, we have seen record numbers of successful school operating referendums. As school leaders know, the only way school districts can exceed the revenue limits so the district can keep pace with inflation is by seeking voter approval of a referendum. We have to educate our lawmakers to make sure our lawmakers understand this, too.

School districts would no longer be able to ask voters to raise their taxes permanently and districts would lose some state funding if they exceed their state-imposed limits on raising property taxes through referendums under a package of bills Republican lawmakers are releasing this week.

... “I believe there is more harm being done to our tax climate via school referendum than anyone realizes,” said Stroebel, R-Saukville. “If everything passed, next year property taxes in Wisconsin would be $63 million higher just from operating (referendums) this election and voters would have approved a total of over $2 billion in school debt in the past thirteen months.”

i.e., the property rich would pay more since property tax burden is proportional to value.

It's a fact not a bias. If you have little in the way of property you should be seeking tax credits as a way of balancing "inequality", not property tax reductions. Walker is playing you for a "sucker" and really benefiting his "wealthy" donors!

*Those with taxable incomes of less than $50,000 will get an average tax cut of $82. Why that’s important: Half of all taxpayers who owe taxes have taxable incomes of $50,000 or less." ...

The top 20% ....

*Those with taxable incomes of between $100,000 and $150,000 will get an average tax cut of $335. About 12 percent of taxpayers who owe taxes have incomes in this range.*Those with taxable incomes of between $150,000 and $200,000 will get an average tax cut of $453. They make up about 4 percent of taxpayers who owe taxes.*Those with taxable incomes of more than $200,000 will get an average tax cut of $892. They also make up about 4 percent of taxpayers who owe taxes.